Pokemon World Online: Rebirth
by Lonepichu
Summary: The sequel to the first PWO, new characters and a new story. The launch event for the new expansion pack threatens to harm a group of young trainers leading people to question Twilmer's admin abilities. The leader of these questions is...Guy?
1. New Usernames

There wasn't much time to hide before another earthquake shook the area. "Take cover!" a male shouted as he jumped behind a rock; his Riolu diving beside him. He held onto the rock with one arm and Riolu with the other. When the tremors subsided, he got shakily to his feet. "Is everyone okay?" he asked, looking around.

"I'm fine," his female partner Grace coughed, as she brushed bits of rock and dust out of her long, blonde hair and off of her white robes which were embellished with pink and purple flower petals. Beside her, a Togetic floated up from behind her rock, looking slightly dizzy. "Lilac looks a little shaken up, though."

"Quit wasting time here and go in for the kill." A male dressed in black leather pants and a leather jacket glared at him from behind another rock. "Little bro, you're the only one a non-supportive role for this mission. You need to focus" His Honchkrow was flying above the area, cawing. "Straight ahead," he translated.

"Fine! I'm going Dante," he grumbled, running towards where the earthquakes were coming from.

"Careful Aleck!" Grace shouted after him, pulling out her staff and casting a few healing and reflective spells on him. "We'll head towards the town and set up barriers there." Aleck nodded as he continued his way forward. He dodged a few oncoming spikes that shot up from the ground and stood fast as another earthquake shook the area. There was a rumbling sound as a boulder fell of one of the ledges that towered over him. He pulled out his standard sword and split it as it fell on him. Riolu looked amazed, applauding.

"Alright, it's up ahead! Are you ready?" Riolu nodded and ran beside him. As they neared the area that the earthquakes were originating from, Aleck could see a Regigigas dragging a mountain by pulling ropes that were tied around said mountain. Each step sent out shock waves that shook the area. His mission and that of his party members was to stop the Regigigas from moving these mountains since a small town laid in its path.

Riolu looked up at Regigigas and watched as it took another step forward and the area was rocked by the shockwaves."Rio!" Riolu shouted, turning around and running as fast as he could. Several boulders nearly fell on Riolu, which caused him to jump and cry out, running the other way towards Regigigas.

"Riolu! Come back, it's okay!" Aleck ran after his Pokémon. The second he did, Regigigas turned to see where the noise had come from. It spotted Aleck and prepared a focus punch. He looked up just in time to see Regigigas' fist slamming into him. The force sent him flying into the rock wall behind him. Aleck tried to stand, but his HP had fallen too low. Aleck's vision blurred as he watched Regigigas prepare to focus punch him once more.

ooo

Pokémon World Online: Rebirth

Chapter 1: New Usernames

First off, if you haven't read the first one, while not absolutely necessary, I would highly recommend it. It can be found on my profile.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or any other thing that shows up in here, but I do own the idea for PWO. That's right, I'm back in action! Why? Because I missed having something to write. I love writing PWO, so here we go. This new one is based on an idea I've been toying with to explore what would happen should Twilmer and Trellaine get PWO up and running again. You could see it as a diverged storyline, one way PWO is brought back and the other, PWO is closed down for good. There are new characters, but the old ones aren't forgotten. I also wanted to explore normal gamers for once and not ones caught up in epic plot. Of course that won't last, but we'll see where this goes!

ONWARD!

Also, no worries, our old favorite characters aren't forgotten.

ooo

"You are such an idiot!" Aleck heard a voice growl as he pulled off his virtual reality helmet.

"Hey, it's not my fault, Tanner. My Riolu ran off before I could sneak up and do anything." Aleck glared at his older brother as he pulled off his helmet.

"That's no excuse! If you were having problems with your Pokémon, you shouldn't have taken on such a large scale mission. That's just common--" Tanner was interrupted as his cell phone rang. "Hello? Don't worry; I'm already lecturing him about what happened. What? I know he's just a beginner, but--" He paused and sighed. "Fine. Later." He closed his phone and turned to Aleck. "That was Sarah. She told me I need to be easy on you. Look, I know you haven't been playing long, but you need to not agree to do missions you know you're not high enough to handle."

"What do you mean? I was fine, but that focus punch caught me off guard and knocked me out!"

"One focus punch. Aleck, usually it takes much more than a focus punch to knock out someone who is able to do the mission."

"If you knew I wasn't able to do the mission, then why'd you take me?"

"Because you told me you could do it and I've been trying to take your word instead of always instantly discrediting you. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back online." Tanner put his helmet back on without a word and logged back on. Aleck sighed and got up. He quietly closed the door to the computer room behind him as he made his way to the fridge.

"He thinks he knows me so well. Whatever," Aleck grumbled to himself as he poured a glass of milk. He had pulled out some cookies for his snack when there was a loud knock on the door. Grumbling, Aleck walked over to answer it.

"Aleck! I'm glad you're home! We need to talk about our English II assignment now," a redheaded female shouted as soon as he opened the door.

"Ophelia! Hi! I forgot you were coming over today," Aleck stepped back to let her in grudgingly. He had been paired with the smartest girl in his English II class for their final assignment. Normally this would have been a good thing, but Ophelia had a way of making him feel lower than dirt whenever she discovered he hadn't been doing any work. She also never stopped talking.

"You were probably too busy playing that stupid video game of yours. What does everyone find so great about it?" Ophelia asked as Tanner threw the computer door open.

"I'm heading over to Sarah's. Dad's not going to be back tonight, so don't go out and get yourself hurt. I'll be back sometime late." He then spotted the cookies and grabbed the box. "Thanks for the snack," he waved as he stomped out the door.

"Hey, I was going to eat those!" Aleck shouted at the closed door. The gears in his head turned as he realized that Tanner's computer was available and he loved procrastination. "Would you like to find out what is so great about this game?"

Ophelia considered for a moment. "I suppose I should give it a try. It might be good research."

"Sweet! Follow me!" Aleck bounded down the hall; Ophelia reluctantly at his heels.

ooo

"Trellaine, for the last time, NO FUNNY CODING!" Twilmer shouted into the intercom. She sighed as she readjusted her long, white hair into its normal ponytail.

"Oh come on, everyone loves a Tropius that grows oranges instead of bananas." Trellaine's jolly voice chuckled.

Twilmer put a hand to her forehead and groaned. "Fine, you can have ONE! ONLY ONE! It can be a quest or something, Hacker."

Trellaine tsk-tsked. "You can't call me hacker anymore my dear Pichu; all this coding is mine and it is official."

Twilmer groaned. "Please don't call me Pichu. I really don't want to remember that." She absentmindedly fiddled with a pendent she wore around her neck. It, of course, did nothing. "Besides ruining herds of wild Pokémon, how're the plans for the expansion coming?"

"Top shape! I'm really enjoying giving things my own personal creepy touch. Gengar approves of this, of course." Twilmer heard a Gengar laugh over the intercom. She couldn't help but smile. "Guy should be there tomorrow to discuss more of the plans. I have a little Easter egg in the coding for him, so if he appears to be in a bad mood, blame it on me. So long!" The intercom fell quiet.

Twilmer stood up and looked out the window of her virtual office. Outside, Fearow glided on a gentle breeze and a Charizard used flamethrower on a gamer that was riding on a Salamence. A very familiar gamer. Twilmer waved to Drix and he nodded at her before commanding his Salamence to unleash a hyper beam. She turned back to the inside of her office where a Weavile was snacking on a tray of oran berries. "Has it really only been two years, Victoria?" The Weavile looked at her briefly before turning to her plate of berries. This was, of course, not the same partner she had had back before the "great crash" as gamers called it now, but Trellaine had made nearly identical data so that she was very similar, except this Victoria didn't walk with a limp if her pendent was removed and this Victoria had never fought alongside her as she faced challenges that would decide the fate of two worlds.

In a way, it was an empty reminder of the friend she would never be able to see again and in another, it was knowledge that somewhere out there, Victoria did the things a real Weavile would do. She ate fish and jumped through the mountains on a chilly night and--perhaps--she had found a mate. Speaking of such, her own other half had probably finished dinner by now. "Hold down the fort for me while I'm gone!" Twilmer waved to Victoria. She nodded and waited until Twilmer finished logging off before jumping into her huge office chair with the plate of berries. She propped her feet up on the desk and enjoyed her meal in comfort.

ooo

"So what do I do first?" Ophelia asked as she watched the PWO opening video.

"It'll ask you to choose a username and then it'll ask you to choose a class. There's swordsman which uses swords to attack foes, grace master which is a class all about agility, tamer where you tame Pokémon and help others find Pokémon partners, herbalist which uses plants and herbs to make healing and status-afflicting powders, thief, which is Tanner's class, and they are good at finding items and use mostly short-ranged weapons and items they find, magician which uses magic, and defenders which are built like tanks and are good at surviving most attacks that come their way. I'm a swordsman myself. After you do those two, you choose your appearance and then I'll meet you in the starter area on my character." Aleck explained, grabbing his own virtual reality helmet.

"That's a lot to consider. I guess I just go with what sounds right, then."

"Do you need any help doing that?"

"Nope." Ophelia plopped the helmet on her head. "I'm good at figuring things out as I go." With that she started typing away furiously. At what, Aleck didn't know nor really care. He had a few things to attend to before he helped a newbie out. He put his on helmet on and logged on.

ooo

"Riolu?" Aleck looked around. He had logged on in the field where he had accepted the quest from earlier. His partner was not at his side like he usually was when he logged on. "Where are you?" Aleck finally spotted his partner sitting behind a tree stump. "There you are! What are you doing back here?"

"Rio," Riolu looked down at the ground, his ears drooped.

"Hey, is this about earlier? Look, don't worry, it was my fault. I knew that the mission was too big to take on, but I wanted to show off or something." Aleck sat down beside Riolu. He looked up and tilted his head to the side. "Hey, we have to go head out to the starter area to meet a friend. Think you're up for it?" Riolu smiled and nodded, though he still seemed hesitant. Aleck didn't notice as he set off, Riolu loping along beside him. "Luckily, I have a wish stone my brother gave me. I can use it to instantly teleport to the main cities I've been to before." Aleck took the stone out of his inventory and chose the starting city.

They quickly teleported to the city. Aleck held his breath as he carefully made his way to the fields outside. The city was infamous for lagging and so he made sure not to move fast. The fields outside the city were large and covered in various flowers that starting herbalists could use to make the basic powders and potions. Aleck always found the fields peaceful and nostalgic. Many adventures started in these fields. "I suppose we have time to train before--" He was cut off as a loud pop signaled the appearance of a newly created character.

Aleck turned and saw a broad woman with armor on, minus the helmet. Her violet hair was tied back in an elegant bun and red horn-rimmed glasses adorned her face. She held a small shield in front of her and raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you serious? Your name on here is Aleck? And you have the same gangly limbs and messy blond as you do in real life. You look a little spiffy in that outfit, but really? No creativity at all." She sighed, shrugging as she shook her head at him.

Aleck looked down at his outfit. He wore a blue school uniform suit, which he only had on because he was saving his money for something awesome. He supposed it did look nice on him and it complemented Riolu's colors quite nicely. He was even wearing a yellow scarf. "Wait," he snapped out of admiring himself, "Ophelia?"

"That's Joan to you now. Joan_of_Arc to be exact. Now I think it's time you showed me how this game worked." She grinned at him, enjoying his look of shock. He hadn't been expecting her to go all out with the customization. He hadn't because he hadn't thought he'd stick with the game. Obviously, Ophelia went all out when she created a character.

Oh well, made for a better day than working on an English presentation. "Defender, right? I'll show you the ropes!" With that, the two held up their weapons and made their way through the field to a more appropriate training area, Riolu tagging along behind them.

ooo

End Part 1

So, what'd you think? Sequels can be hard to pull off, so your input is absolutely necessary. I hope you enjoy the new characters and aren't disappointed that our old favorites won't always be in the spot light.


	2. Discovery

A blonde male wearing blue robes played with a strange little butter knife, twirling it between his fingers as he lounged on a ratty sofa. "I can't believe you programmed this thing back in," Guy remarked with a yawn. Above him, his Butterfree, Caesar, fluttered around his head, watching as he played with the shiny metal knife.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that." Trellaine glanced over at him. Guy shrugged. "Anyways, Gyrafage should be here shortly. It's been awhile since we've had the whole brotherhood together."

"Some guild we are with this guild house. Could you not have programmed something better than a few old, Venonat bitten sofas?"

"Quality over-" Trellaine paused, "well, I'm not sure how to finish that sentence actually. Anyways, it doesn't matter what the guild house looks like, but that the brotherhood is together. I only wish Gyrafage had been able to join us when we helped Twilmer, but that's in the past." He placed a basket on the only dusty table and filled it with oranges. "There, gives the old house some color."

"Bah, you better do something more than that!" Guy glanced at the basket with a raised eyebrow.

"Patience. I was actually waiting for Gyra to get here so the three of us could give the place the old threefold charm, you know? Either way, that'll have to wait until our next meeting anyways since I have to see Twilmer tonight concerning a rather fascinating product." There was a glint in his eye as he thought over the coding possibilities that were to come.

"A fascinating project?" Guy stopped twirling the knife to glance up at the old mage.

There was a slight knocking sound coming from above them. "That would be Gyra!" Trellaine moved to open the door. "All I can say for now until I talk it over with her is that she has a beta name."

"She?" Guy looked intrigued.

"Yes, like Weavile was known as Manyula in the beta."

"What is this she's beta name?"

Trellaine paused, staff tip to the ceiling. "Zoroark." He said simply.

ooo

Pokémon World Online: Rebirth

Chapter 2: Discovery

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, but I do own the idea for PWO and PWO:R. Sorry for such a long pause between parts, but finals are finally over! Enjoy! And as always, reviews help me improve! Don't be afraid to tell me what you think. Also, Zoroark is a new Pokémon from generation 5. I remember when I wrote up the idea draft for the first PWO, generation 4 didn't have English names yet. It's like each generation yields a new PWO. Heh. Anyways, enjoy! If you have any questions about the PWO verse, please let me know! I plan on updating the old one to show that there is a new part in case some of those who watched the old one don't know of the sequel and I plan on writing a bit of summary on the world and such so that way it's not just a "hey, new fic up, go read" boring part. Thanks again!

ooo

"This can't be all there is to this game," Joan complained as she bounced another Rattata off her shield and watched as her experience points went up. "I've been doing this for the past hour and it's getting old fast."

Aleck sighed, his patience running thin. "Of course this isn't it; this is just the beginning area. This area helps you get the hang of things and learn about your job. We can move on if you'd like, but," Aleck pointed at the top of the screen where the level was displayed. "You're only level 3 and the stuff out in the rest of the game is a lot tougher than these Rattata."

"Well, you're level 15 so why don't you help me out? I'm sure you can protect me from whatever's out there. I'm bored here already, so let's go!" Joan stood and began walking in the complete opposite direction.

"That's not," Aleck paused and shrugged. It was best to learn for yourself in this game and Joan never seemed to listen to anyone but herself. She was the type who took over school projects and didn't allow others to help in school for fear that they would mess something up. "Alright then, you lead the way."

"I like that new attitude of yours," Joan smiled, clanking along in her armor. Riolu looked up at Aleck, tilting his head to the side in confusion. He placed a finger to his lips and winked. Riolu nodded with a grin. The two followed obediently behind, keeping any giggles to themselves. As they walked, the area became increasingly more wooded. Joan jumped when a loud beeping noise came from her mail system. "What's that? Mail alert?" She asked, turning to look at Aleck.

"No, that sound means you're entering an area you are too low level for. You can keep going, but it's recommended you turn around and level up, first." Aleck looked around, noticing several Ariados crawling towards them. "Lower levels can also agro opponents looking for a quick kill."

"Agro?" Joan asked, sounding a little nervous.

"It means they'll follow you and mercilessly attack." No sooner had the words left his mouth than the huge, red spiders pounced. Joan screamed, pulling up her shield and deflecting one. Her level went up one due to the big level gap. Another snuck up from behind and shot out a string of thread, which Joan stuck to. She struggled to get out of it and ended up tripping. More string shots wound around her ankles as another Ariados readied a poison sting attack. Joan quickly reached forward and grabbed her shield, deflecting the attack. She threw her shield at the bug Pokémon, but it just grew angry. She was now defenseless, which was the worst situation a defender could ever be in.

"Why aren't they attacking you?" Joan growled, trying to pull the thread off of her legs, which only served to cause her hands to become stuck as well.

"I'm a high enough level that they'll leave me alone." He was rather amused at the sight of Joan rolling around on the ground, muttering swear words under her breath.

"Well, don't just stand there!" Joan shouted. Aleck nodded at Riolu and the two jumped forward, landing back to back.

"Ready buddy?" Riolu nodded and reached forward, a bone made of aura energy appeared in his paws. He swung it forward at a nearby Ariados, knocking the bug back. He pulled out his sword, and charged at a group of Ariados. Each of the two slashed until the Ariados that had attacked were beaten back into submission, each gaining a level up from their hard work.

"Oh wow," Joan said in shock. She then pulled free of the thread and brushed herself off. She picked up her shield and promptly took the few steps to leave the area. Here, a few Spinerak considered her, but scurried away soon after. "I think I'm done for right now. It's getting late and I really need to head back home." With that, she pulled off her helmet and logged off.

"I think we impressed her," Aleck laughed. Riolu barked and waved as Aleck took his helmet off as well.

ooo

Ophelia placed the Helmet down gingerly and grabbed her book bag. "I'll just let myself out." With that, she rushed off.

"What's with her?" Aleck wondered aloud with a sigh. He looked at the clock and nearly dropped the helmet he was holding. It was already 11 o'clock! His stomach growled, confirming the time to be right. One bad thing about the game was that sometimes time could fly by. Hours seemed to only be minutes. However, he thought with a grin, a good thing was that it kept obnoxious know-it-alls occupied and assignments put off for another day.

He walked into the kitchen to grab a slice of leftover pizza when he noticed the answering machine was blinking. He pushed the play button as he opened the fridge door. "You have one new message. Message one: Hey Aleck, it's Tanner. You better not be on my computer. Anyways, Dad gave me the go-ahead to order pizza again. It should be there around midnight or something. I'll be home around that time too. Pick up a few bucks from Dad's dresser to tip the pizza man. Later." Aleck grabbed the last two slices from last night's pizza run and tossed the box out the back door. With their dad away all the time, they often feasted on various forms of delivery and take out. It didn't bother him, really, as he loved pizza, but sometimes he missed having a home cooked meal. And a mother to cook them.

He plopped down in front of the TV and flipped to some old movie, stuffing his face.

ooo

"She's gorgeous!" Twilmer beamed, watching a dark grey fox Pokémon that reminded her strongly of a kabuki costume pace back and forth on her monitor. Sometimes she ran on all fours and at others she growled, rising on her hind legs. "Zoroark," Twilmer savored the new word, repeating it a few more times.

"There are others like that, too. I've discovered this one has a pre-evolution and I believe I've seen three other new Pokémon." Trellaine said, his voice a little grainy coming through her monitor's speakers.

"This is just what the expansion needed! A new area with new Pokémon. I'd been dreaming of new ones and even considered making some myself, but this! This is just beyond anything!" Twilmer swiveled in her chair, standing up. "I'm coming to meet you. Aura offered to watch things for me. I want to see all your research!"

"Sure, but give me a second to-" Trellaine turned as Twilmer appeared behind him, tossing her teleportation stone into the air and catching it mid-fall, smug grin on her face, "-tidy up."

"Now show me," Twilmer tossed the stone back into her inventory. Behind her, Victoria kept a protective stance.

"I don't have the new Pokémon here. I'm coding them, though, as we speak." Trellaine motioned towards an open door that showed a huge domed room lined with computers and machinery.

"Not that," Twilmer paused, glancing around to make sure that the guild room was empty, and "I want to see how you discovered this. How is it that you can see these things? I know we closed off any ties this world had with the Pokémon world, so I want to know how you're doing it."

Trellaine cleared his throat, avoiding the glare Twilmer was giving him. "Maybe I didn't close off all ties." He admitted.

"What? How could you?" Twilmer rounded on him.

"Calm down and have an orange." He tossed the fruit at her, causing her to backpedal to catch it. "I left a thin membrane of data at one point so that I could examine things. Call it selfishness, curiosity, science, whatever, but through that thin membrane, I can use a sort of telescope to observe things on that world. I believe this is what Satoshi originally did when he created this game, but then was drawn into it, wanting to see more. This is how I discovered the new Pokémon."

Twilmer sat on one of the ratty sofas, positioning herself so that the springs wouldn't poke her. "I find this despicable and downright disobedient, you hacker." Twilmer paused. "Although, how is Victoria doing?" She whispered. Victoria in the room looked up at her.

"She's doing fine," Trellaine hid a smile, "and has found herself a mate. From what I know about Pokémon speech, she talks about you a lot, telling stories of the battles you shared. She's earned a lot of respect with the other Weavile."

"Have you told anyone else?" Twilmer spoke, her voice edged with tears that threatened to betray her serious tone.

"Just you." Trellaine turned to face her. "Would you like to see for yourself?" Twilmer nodded, despite her better judgment. Trellaine smiled and led her into the domed room.

ooo

End Chapter 2

Don't forget to R&R. I appreciate constructive criticism, but not flames. Thanks for reading!


	3. The Coming Event

"Sunny, they're gaining!" A young woman called out to her Cherrim as she ran. It nodded and jumped into the air, performing a sleep powder. Immediately, the Crobat that had been in hot pursuit fell to the ground, fast asleep. "Way to go," she congratulated, panting. She stopped running and wiped a few strands of her auburn, shoulder length hair out of her face. She straightened her clothes, a purple jean jacket open over a tight fighting green shirt, khaki capris, and green and white shoes that matched her shirt. "Okay, break time over, we have to hurry!" The cherry blossom Pokémon nodded and the two took off at top speed once more.

She heard Noctowl approaching behind her. "Insomnia. I guess we'll have to face this one head on." She turned, Sunny following suit, and faced the owls. They weren't very big, but then again size rarely mattered in the Pokémon world. "You use repeated petal barrages to distract them while I try to tame them." With a nod, Cherrim began a flurry of petal dances, spinning around and around. They hit the Noctowl, though not doing much damage due to the type disadvantage. One cut forward with a wing attack, knocking the tiny grass Pokémon back a few feet. "Sunny!" She cried. "Okay, that's it! No more misses nice guy."

She brandished her taming pole and twirled around. She hit to the left of both the Noctowl, blocking their path towards Cherrim, who had reverted to her bud stage. The Noctowl directed their attention and attacks to the teen. With a twirl, she brought the pole between them. The two Noctowl quickly diverted their paths, flying up. She brought the pole up and swung it to the side, causing the Noctowl to gather to the right of her. She tripped slightly on a rock, but it was all the opening the two Noctowl needed. They charged forward, swarming her. She held her pole over her, trying to block their attacks.

Sunny watched her partner and cried out. She stood and released a powerful stun spore, causing the two owls to fall to the ground, unable to move. "Oh wow, Sunny, did you just learn that?" She beamed at her partner.

Together, the two ran with all their might until they reached a tree stump. "We made it," she panted, sitting down on it. Inside her jacket pocket came a beeping. She pulled out a communicator and smiled at the person she saw on its screen.

"Emily! You did amazing!" Aura beamed, still looking very much the same. Emily23 grinned, still catching her breath. "Thanks so much for helping me get the good night jewel. I think that's the last one I needed for my jewels to be complete again."

Emily23 smiled. "I'm glad I could help!" She pushed back her bangs, which had fallen into her face from the action. "What all do you have left to collect?"

Aura sighed, pulling out a list. "Way too much, and some of this is really rare."

"Can't you just get Twilmer to make you some of the one of a kind items you had?" Emily23 inquired.

"I could, but then again, it's more fun to earn them," she laughed.

"So what's next on the list?" She stood, ready for more. Sunny beside her didn't quite share her enthusiasm.

Aura mulled over her list for a second before placing her finger on one of the items. "Want to try the Regigigas event? I'll have to do this one with you, but the prize is the Colossal armlet. Usually noobs try that event, thinking they can take out Regigigas while he's still powering up and fail miserably, but I think the two of us can pull that off."

"I'm on it!" she jumped up in excitement, closing the communicator and putting it back in her pocket. "Ready for another adventure?" She asked Sunny.

"Cher," Sunny nodded reluctantly, her partner's excitement starting to rub off on her.

ooo

Pokémon World Online: Rebirth

Chapter 3: The coming event

Disclaimer: Sorry for the long time between parts, but school and work kept me from writing. Anyways, hopefully this'll mean we'll be back on our update schedule as usual! Maybe. I reread PWO and missed writing it. Now that all the gen 5 Pokémon have been revealed and are familiar to everyone, this fic should go faster!

ooo

"We made it to the first town!" Joan exclaimed, rushing forward. "I can't wait to see what other newbies are around!" Aleck didn't even bother trying to catch up with Joan as she sped off.

"This beats working on our project, but not by much. She really needs a partner." Aleck looked down at Riolu. Riolu was kicking a pebble on the cobblestone street. "I guess we better find her before she gets into trouble." Riolu barked his agreement and followed along. They found Joan sparring with another new player. She was blocking every sword attack that the other game barraged forward. A weedle beside him looked up at him as if he were an embarrassment.

"And now to finish!" Joan twirled around, knocking him off his feet with her giant shield. She then placed a foot on top of him, shield inches from his neck. The crowd around them cheered. Joan reveled in the attention and applause. Aleck bent down and helped the gamer to his feet.

"That was embarrassing," he sighed. Weedle nodded in agreement. "Oh who asked you, you bug?" He grumbled, stalking off toward the beginning area, probably to level grind.

"We let you out of our sight for two seconds and you're sparring with other players?" Aleck gave her an incredulous look.

"He started it," she shrugged, waving to the departing crowd.

"I can't believe this," he rolled his eyes. A poster on the wall caught his eye. He walked up to it and began to nearly jump up and down in excitement. "I can't believe this!" he shouted.

"God, you don't have to rub it in," Joan growled behind him.

"Not that," Aleck motioned her over. "Look at this poster! New Pokémon that will be featured in an upcoming expansion to be tested in an event! They said they'd never unveil new Pokémon in this game! I can't believe this!"

Joan looked at the date. "Two weeks from now. Hey, isn't that when-"

"I think we should find you a partner!" Aleck cut her off quickly. Anything to keep her mind off of their project.

She considered this. "Like Riolu?" She bent down and poked Riolu. He swatted at her finger and hid behind Aleck's leg. "I don't want my partner to be this wimpy, though."

"Riolu's not wimpy," he challenged. "Besides, Riolu is a warrior's partner. You want something more suited for a defender. A lot of bulky Pokémon with high defense can be found in caves and such. Like a Geodude or something."

"Even I've heard of how lame Geodude are." Joan stuck her tongue out in distaste. "I want something cooler."

"We can find you something cooler." Aleck agreed just as an older gamer in a blue robe stepped past him.

"New Pokémon already? Has she gone mad?" the man grumbled, a Butterfree fluttering around his head. He walked past Aleck and Joan, not really seeing them.

"What's that about?" Joan asked.

"I don't know," Aleck whispered. Why would he be annoyed about new Pokémon? And who was the she he was referring to? Was it the administrator? Aleck followed behind him, Joan toddling after. The man walked down a main street and toward the teleporters. He stepped on one and disappeared.

"I wonder where he went." Aleck pondered, watching as the teleporter stopped glowing and returned to its normal blue color.

Aleck stepped toward the teleporter and was stopped by a very short man. "I'm sorry, but these teleporters are owned by the Vultures and as such are subject to a toll."

"A toll?" Joan shoved Aleck out of the way to glare at the tiny man. "That guy in the blue robe didn't have to pay a toll."

The man cleared his throat, "Well that man is a senior gamer and of a very high level-"

"So he could kick your butt." Joan smirked. "Just who do you think you are?"

"I am Keane and this," he motioned to a Misdreavous who was floating behind him, grinning to herself, "is Jenni. We are proud members of the guild Vultures and are in the higher ranks. I am filling in for the person who usually patrols this town. We are focused on acquiring the largest stock pile of money that we can and as such, have legally purchased most teleporters and are allowed to charge a toll if we see fit."

"You have got to be kidding me." Aleck stood up from where he had fallen on the ground.

"Time is money and you're wasting mine. Good day." With that, Keane walked away, Misdreavous floating after him. Aleck stepped onto the teleporter and it did nothing. "Well this is just great."

"There's no fun in teleporting anyway," Joan shrugged. "Let's go to the market and stock up on stuff and then we have to find me a partner, okay?" Aleck shrugged, allowing himself to be pulled along, Riolu at his heels.

ooo

Guy stormed into the guild house and pointed an accusing finger at Trellaine. "You guys just discover some secret new Pokémon and are already releasing it publicly? This doesn't sound the least bit wise and sounds a bit too deja vu for my tastes."

Trellaine waved his finger away. "Why are you accusing me? I simply showed her the new Pokémon and told her of the new possibilities."

Guy shook said finger in anger. "I know how you get, you old coot. You know just how to work her over. You probably just want to try your hand at coding new Pokémon and she is distracted by shiny, new things. I mean, just look at all the jewelry her and her partner wear."

"Ah, some of the new Pokémon are shiny and metallic," Trellaine's eyes sparkled. Guy crossed his arms impatiently. "Don't worry; we're taking the utmost care to see to it that a repeat of last time doesn't happen."

"Fine, I'll see how this event goes, but I won't be happy about it." Guy lay down on a green plaid sofa that had not been there last time. "Why are the couches multiplying, by the way?" He asked, pulling out the butter knife again and twirling it in his fingers.

"I'm trying to spruce the place up. I thought you'd appreciate it."

"Needs more blue and to be more manly. What kind of brotherhood has green, plaid sofas? It's like the 90s in here, but with less alternative music."

"Oh we have that, too." Trellaine snapped his fingers and music started playing. It was one of Guy's favorite songs. Guy settled down, mouthing along to the words, deciding that this was worth the horrible upholstery.

ooo

End Part 3

Yes, it's short, but I mainly just really wanted to get a new part out there. I'm building up introductions right now. Next part will HOPEFULLY be shorter coming than a year. Hehehe...reviews appreciated!


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